Evangelist on the move

It used to be amusing. Now campus evangelical preaching has gotten out of hand. \nEvangelist Jim Giles knows how to draw a crowd. He calls IU's female students whores. He condemns smokers to hell. If you're gay, he says you're definitely going down under. \nAll this from a man who claims salvation came to him at a Van Halen concert. \nNow he has voiced plans to sue the school for moving his pulpit from the area behind Woodburn Hall to Dunn Meadow. The command to move came after the noise of the crowd prompted a phone call to the IU Police Department over a week ago.\nCampus officials said the crowd was becoming volatile, and they feared for the preacher's safety. Giles told the Indiana Daily Student his rights are being violated and he doesn't want to be preaching to the squirrels and the birds. \nThe designated campus assembly ground is Dunn Meadow, outside of the flow of class-to-class traffic, with plenty of room for students to gather and listen as they wish. According to the Campus Demonstrations, Picketing and Assembly Ground Policy, "gatherings on campus elsewhere than on the Assembly Ground will not be permitted to disturb classes or interfere with traffic." While much of the wording of the policy seems to refer to only students, this portion is general in context -- referring to all demonstrations. \nGiles says the rules don't apply to him because he is not a student. He's wrong; they apply to whomever wishes to set up a demonstration on campus. The Genocide Awareness Project (a group that brings a traveling display of gruesome pictures to campuses to protest against abortion) tried to take the University to court a couple of years ago because it was being barred from setting up behind Woodburn Hall. The group settled out of court, and the University agreed to let the group set up the display near the Sample Gates.\nThis is perfectly legal. Regulation of speech according to time, place and manner is permissible as long as the restrictions are neutral to the content of the speech and an alternative is given for presenting it.\nUniversity trustees need to set up a clear rule for campus gatherings. While the wording of the "Campus Demonstrations, Picketing and Assembly Ground Policy " seems to cover all events, portions of it refer specifically to students only. Yet, the recent conflicts concerning these rules have involved non-student parties. If the wording was more clear, perhaps this wouldn't be the second proposed lawsuit concerning IU's assembly policies in the past three years. \nThough he may be moved to an off-center location on campus, Giles exemplifies the First Amendment. While we may not agree with him, freedom of speech is required for the minority as well as the majority. Without it, the United States would be as free as a dictatorship. \nSo go on preaching to the birds and the squirrels, Giles. Even though you have the same rights as everyone else, we aren't listening. \n